Anadolu Efes - Fenerbahce The first trophy of the year will be judged tonight in Turkey where Efi and Fenerbahce are the pair of the final with the two gladiators expected to cross their swords several times this year, with last year's set of 14 matches set a record. Specifically, Efes and Fenner clashed in the Super Cup and Cup finals, 2 times in the regular Euroleague season and 1 in the final four of the same event, 2 times in the regular season championship and 7 times in the championship finals!
Efes won last year's championship and reached the Euroleague finals in the season's finale with Ataman creating a set that impressed with the basketball he played as he combined spectacle and substance. Larkin was the cornerstone of the Turks, and the fact that they managed to keep him in their roster for another year is a huge success considering that the American guard had suggestions from all of Europe's top teams and NBA clubs. They also managed to keep up with the replays of Simon, Missic, Bubba and Dunston while there was significant quality upgrades to the forward positions with Sigleton and Peters coming to Motum and Brown. Ataman was fortunate not to have many internationals at the World Cup so he could work from the start with almost all of his players although the few extras made this summer helped keep the roster homogeneous.
Fenner, on the other hand, has made a major upgrade to its roster as De Kolo is now a resident of Constantinople composing one of the highest quality regional twins along with our own Kostas Slouka. In addition to the French superstar, Turks will now also have Euroleague's top forward, Derik William, as well as quality guard Westerman, but the very helpful Honey, Guduric and Greene departing from the constant threat line . The fact that most of Obradovic's players were members of the national teams made it difficult for the Serbian coach who saw DeCollo to be integrated into the training a few days ago and would be deprived of the services of two of his key players, Veseli and Loverne. injuries.
It is certain that at the end of the year the two teams will face enormous differences than they do now, but at this point in time Efes is starting a step further due to homogeneity while Fener has to deal with injury problems. The ace is an outsider and we will trust Efes to win the first cup by continuing from where he finished last year.
